Search - Michael Halaas featuring Joan Jeanrenaud :: The Lucidity Project

Piano/cello in Halaas style - gorgeous!

08/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With his latest release, Halaas combines his phenomenal piano playing with the legendary Joan Jeanrenaud (formerly of Kronos Quartet), cellist extraordinaire. Michael weaves the two instruments together with great success creating complex textures and moods in each song. As with all his albums, these songs convey a personal journey to which we relate as we listen. The cello adds a new voice to the dialogue, and the songs are utterly captivating. New subtleties reveal themselves on each listening. These songs are absolutely gorgeous, filled with layers upon layers of rich sound. An explanation of the musical wizardy appears on the inside jacket: "To create the textures of sound found on this album, each instrument was played by Michael or Joan and recorded individually. The tracks were then carefully layered to produce the resulting pieces. All songs on this album are combinations of music recorded on the piano, cello, guitar, and a variety of percussion instruments."It has all the clean, polished sound of a major label album (if you have a nice sound system, turn it up!). With this album, Michael has again shown his incredible versatility by producing a wonderfully subtle and personal musical journey. If you like Michael's other work or are just a fan of the piano or cello, be sure to check out this album for a refreshing new sound. Bravo Michael!"